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Israel to resume Gaza raids if truce fails

Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak has warned it may resume its attacks on Gaza at any time if a truce that ended a week of bloodshed fails to hold.

The ceasefire "can last nine days, nine weeks or more, but if it does not hold we will know what to do, and then of course we shall consider the possibility of resuming our (military) activity in case of shooting or provocation," he told public radio on Thursday.

The morning after it took effect, the ceasefire was being honoured in the Gaza Strip, after eight days of cross-border violence that resulted in the deaths of 163 Palestinians and five Israelis.

Obtained after an intense diplomatic push led by Egypt and the United States, the truce came into force at 1900 GMT on Wednesday (0600 on Thursday), based on text of the agreement.

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Barak justified the Israeli government's decision to call off a threatened large-scale ground offensive in Gaza, despite the mobilisation of tens of thousands of reservists.

"Such an operation could have created a situation where we would have had to stay for years in the Gaza Strip. I don't miss Gaza, I'm sure Hamas does not feel nostalgia for what has been happening to it in recent days," he said.

Barak said it would be impossible to bring down Gaza's Hamas government without a complete Israeli re-occupation of the coastal territory.

"I'm not sure that would be the most intelligent thing to do," he said.

He said the truce arrangement was not a formal treaty between Israel and Hamas, with whom the Jewish state says it does not negotiate.

"It is not an agreement, it is an unsigned paper," he told the radio.

"That does not mean it is not worth anything, but it only reflects the arrangements concluded between us and the Egyptians on one side and between Hamas and Egypt on the other, as well as the limitations that both parties accepted," he said.

"The most important point concerns the commitment of all the Palestinian factions to cease all hostile activities against Israel, including firing rockets or attacks against the Israeli army along the border between Gaza and Israeli territory.

"If peace continues to prevail, there is no reason not to allow Palestinian farmers to cultivate their land up to the border fence."

The Israeli army considers the fence and its immediate vicinity a live-fire zone off limits to Palestinians.

Late on Wednesday, the ruling Hamas government announced that Thursday would be a public holiday in Gaza, although in places mourning tents were set up and the last funerals for those killed in the violence were still ongoing.

"The Palestinian government announces that Thursday 22nd November is a national holiday of victory and an official holiday," it said in a statement.

It "invites all citizens to celebrate this occasion and visit the families of the martyrs and the wounded and those affected by the violence and to affirm national solidarity".

Government schools were expected to reopen on Saturday, ending a week without studies for Gaza's children who have struggled to cope with the trauma of war and the boredom of being stuck indoors.

Gaza streets, empty and quiet during a week of violence, were once again flooded with cars and people on Thursday as life returned to normal after the truce.

Hamas was expected to hold its own mass celebrations later in the day, with Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya scheduled to make a statement at 1200 GMT (2300 AEDT).